Long walk before new placement for Dumfriesshire's Father David

Best foot forward for Father David from St Andrew's RC Church in Dumfries and St Columba's RC in Annan on a sponsored walk before he leaves for a new ministry in Ayr. (Image: Picture by contracted freelance Jim McEwan)

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His boots are made for walking and Father David Borland is putting them to good use.

The priest is taking on a sponsored walk in a bid to help Christian charities in the Holy Land.

And once he’s finished the 17-mile walk between his two parishes of St Andrew’s , in Dumfries, and St Columba’s, in Annan, he’ll be packing his bags for a permanent move to Ayrshire.

Father David, whose last weekend in the parishes will be September 24 and 25, is to become the administrator of St Margaret’s Cathedral in Ayr.

From the start of October he will also take on the Ayr parishes of St Paul’s and St Francis Xavier’s, Waterside, and become the new chaplain to Ayr Hospital.

He said: “I am really sad to be going but Bishop Nolan has asked me to move to Ayr and I have agreed to do so. It will be a new challenge.”

It will also be a move closer to home as his family are in Prestwick.

He told parishioners this week: “These last eight years in St Andrew’s and three years in St Columba’s have been wonderful times in both my ministry and as a priest and my personal life.

“I thank all of you for the generous way you have allowed me to be part of your lives and I will always cherish the friendships that I have made and the happy memories of these years with you.”

In the meantime, he is determined to carry on with his planned sponsored walk on Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18.

And parishioners are signing up to walk sections of the route with him.

Sponsorship money and donations can be handed in or sent to either church as he tries to raise as much money as possible for two causes desperately in need of money – the Widow’s Day Centre in Bethlehem and the UK-based Friends of the Holy Land charity which helps Christians to remain working and living there.

Father David plans to hand over the cash when he is in the Holy Land next month on a Diocesan trip.

He will be replaced at both parishes by the current Ayr priest Father Gerald Donnelly, who is formerly an assistant priest at St Teresa’s RC in Dumfries, and parish priest at Lockerbie and Moffat.